


Blue on White

by wynnebat



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Rey Knows Shyriiwook
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-27
Updated: 2015-12-27
Packaged: 2018-05-09 16:17:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5546969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wynnebat/pseuds/wynnebat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rey fulfills Han's promise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blue on White

**Author's Note:**

> I have so many feels about this movie.

"Wait," Rey called, before Chewbacca could take control of his side of the Millennium Falcon. There was something in her voice that she barely recognized—something bone-deep, something cold, something worn. There was a future she could've had, one she'd wanted: one where she travelled the universe with Han Solo, a man only a step away from mythical, a step away from home. And even though she'd said no, now she couldn't say yes. She couldn't say anything.

 _For Han,_ she thought. It was a strategic decision, too, but strategy wasn't what convinced her. Neither was it revenge. It was only that she knew what it was like, to wait and wait for someone to come home. Han would never come back. But someone else could.

"We're going over that ravine over there," she told Chewbacca.

 _This isn't a jumper,_ Chewbacca replied. _You think we can land without making the ravine even larger?_

"Everything's possible," she said, ignoring a wetness in her eyes. Dammit, she'd known him for barely a week.

It was Chewbacca who should've been crying, but he only placed a warm hand on her shoulder. Eventually, he said, _The planet will blow soon_.

Rey nodded, and placed her hands on the controls. This, she knew. She could do this much. It took some maneuvering, but with Chewbacca's decades of experience, the innate talent Rey apparently had, and some luck, they landed with a thump on the other side of the recently made ravine.

Kylo was still in the same place she'd last seen him, passed out from his wounds. Rey stood over him for a long moment, her heart somewhere between her brain and her teeth. She wasn't a killer, but he was. It would've been so easy to avenge Han's death, to make the senseless murder hurt less. Her hands lingered around Kylo's neck. Chewbacca didn't stop her.

Rey gritted her teeth and said, "We'll take him with us. The general can deal with him."

A formal execution would leave less blood on her hands.

 _Good choice,_ Chewbacca said, throwing the man over his shoulder.

"You wouldn't have stopped me?"

 _There are hundreds of mistakes you humans make. If I try to guide your path, I'd become crazier than this one here,_ Chewbacca said, huffing. _There's no need for death... But, my best friend is dead by his hand._

They threw him onto the same bed as Finn, who was still similarly unconscious. Rey checked his pulse; still there. Kylo's was stable and stronger, but it wasn't him who she was worried about. Before she walked back to the control center, Rey bandaged him up as best as she could and tied Kylo down to the bed like Finn already had been. Even if Kylo didn't wake up, she didn't want the pain of cleaning up his brains off the ship if he got thrown around while they flew through hyperspace. Finn was already in the straps attached to the bed; Kylo got rough rope and a position half on top of Finn.

"Sorry, Finn," she muttered. "The sooner you get up, the sooner this asshole won't be spooning you anymore, alright?"

Rey ran a hand through Finn's thick hair, wishing futilely for more medical knowledge.

When the moment passed, she returned to the control room. Chewbacca was already buckled in.

They flew through the stars, not toward home, but somewhere close enough. A place where everyone believed in peace and weren't trying to kill her. It was good enough. The journey back to the Resistance's base was measured in stars and breaths. Chewbacca's were quiet and deeper than a regular human's. Finn's were too soft, too wrong, but still audible. And Kylo's were those of a man going from unconsciousness into sleep. He at least would live.

Their ship was welcomed immediately at their destination. Rey wasn't surprised, but she'd gotten too used to people shooting at her to take it with anything but thanks. They parked and took Finn with them as they exited the ship.

When Leia greeted her, she wasn't the general. She was only Han's widow, and Rey was only Han's could've been, might've been student in the arts of smuggling. Her hug was tight and long, and Rey leaned into it with her whole body. She was only somewhat aware of Chewbacca carrying Finn to a medical cart.

"There's something else you need to know," Rey said, quietly.

Leia followed her into the ship and froze at the sight of her son.

"You brought him back," she breathed.

Rey was quickly enveloped in a hug.

"He didn't come willingly," Rey warned. "And... he killed—"

"My husband, yes," Leia finished. "I felt it. I felt him change."

There was barely a rustle from the man in question, and he spoke toward the wall as he said, "Then you know I'm lost to you forever." With a strange reluctance in his motions, Kylo faced them and settled into as much of a seated position as his bonds would allow. "Hello, mother."

"Ben," Leia said, a million feelings in her voice. "I've missed you."

Unbidden, a thought creeped through Rey's head: this was what a mother's love was. The way Leia stared at Kylo like she couldn't look away, the way she looked like she might both cry and smile in seconds, the way she loved this awful man. Rey had heard of unconditional love, but never had she experienced it.

The moment passed, and it was Leia herself who broke it. Her other role resurfaced, and the general yelled through the open hatch, "I need a troop of soldiers. We have a prisoner!"

Kylo's eyes lingered on his mother's back for a long moment before he said to Rey, "You'll never be able to keep me."

"I won't," Rey agreed. "But the general's never going to let you get lost yet again." That much, she knew for sure.

Rey didn't know if Kylo would be executed, or if the Resistance had another path in store for him. But as she turned around and walked away, Rey was glad the decision was out of her hands, because her anger and grief wasn't as complex as Leia's. The next time she met Kylo on the battlefield, she wouldn't miss. Han would have to understand.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Complete; no sequel planned.


End file.
